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And you know what? Sometimes it hurts, especially when those people are my friends. Sometimes, it makes me pretend not to care, pretend I don’t know, pretend I’m not me. Sometimes it makes me shut up.

And that’s a human reaction. It’s a teenage reaction especially. But deep down, I know that while on the surface it may affect me, my heart stays the same. Whatever they throw at me, they can’t touch me really.

This I attribute to one small but powerful philosophy, that’s been brought to the forefront of my mind with news of the recent shootings in Denver, Colorado (RIP). I’m not Hindu, or Muslim, and the remnants of the Christian faith I once had vary in influence and strength. I don’t believe in reincarnation, and I find it hard (and occasionally unpalatable) to believe in an eternal afterlife.

But I do believe that we have to live every day. Not just let ourselves pass through it, not just let it happen, but live it. Forgive others, because there isn’t time to hold grudges. Let yourself love, because love causes more beauty in this life than anything else. Let others love, because you are not living their lives and you do not have their hearts. Read, write, watch, listen to, be with, do what you love. Don’t care when others criticise you. They will always criticise you. There will always be someone who doesn’t like what you’re doing, always someone who thinks you’re strange. Do it anyway. Be yourself anyway.

Because life is more than a gift. Life is a blessing. We can feel so much, be so much, yet we set limits on ourselves so we can fit in with what others feel we should be, or we let them limit us.

Well, let them limit themselves. I want to fly.

And if I was going to be the light-hearted person I sometimes pretend to be, I would finish this post with a jokey sentence like “Sorry about all the depth, but I was feeling it!”. But you know what, no.